Blade dispenser



R- W. BOXER BLADE DISPENSER Nov. 5, 1963 Filed Jan. 51. 1961 2Sheets-Sheet 1 W ,7 o m M w v mu 0 o R 5 E E H w I I mw \Q f ///T M Q 90 M /a I M Nov. 5, 1963 R. w. BOXER 3,109,538

BLADE DISPENSER Filed Jan. 51, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet z United StatesPatent 3,lti,533 BLADE DISPENSER Robert W. Boxer, 720 5. Wolcott Sit,Chicago, Ill. Filed lien. 31, 1961, Ser. No. 86,0?!7 2 Claims. (El.2%37) The invention relates to a portablecontainer for dispensingdisposable blades of form'snaintaining sheet material, one at a time,from a pack of blades carried in the container.

Although the device may be capable of other applications, it isparticularly adapted for use in the dispensing of small wooden strips orblades such as are used by physicians in depressing the tongue of apatient in order to permit better view of the mouth or throat of thepatient as an incident to a medical examination. Such blades aregenerally termed depressors.

Under existing practice in vogue for many years, the physician carries asupply of these depressors on his person or obtains them from some placein his ofice Where they are supposed to be kept in clean, sanitarycondition. Under these conditions, there is always the possibility thatthe physician or his assistant may pick up a depressor which is believedto be sanitary but may have become contaminated with dirt or otheroutside agent, and should not be used in making the examination. Hence,it is quite desirable that the physician, before he commences hisexamination, should have on his person a supply of these depressors andthat the depressors may be readily available so that the physician mayquickly obtain a sanitary one if the one he is using has becomecontaminated by prior use or otherwise. It is equally desirable that aclean, sanitary depressor should be available and conveniently obtainedfrom the person of the physician without delaying the examination by asearch for a sanitary depressor.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a portabledispensing arrangement capable of being detachably secured to the personof the physician so that a supply of the depressor blades may be carriedand dispensed one at a time whenever the physician finds that he has aneed for a depressor blade, while at the same time, the blades aresafely held or supported so that they will not be dropped or spilled byany sudden or unexpected movement of the physician.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a container ordepressor of the character referred to Which will keep the blades cleanand in a sanitary condition until they are needed by the physician,while still having the blades readily accessible and dispensable.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dispenser, of thecharacter referred to, which can be readily re-charged or re-filled witha number of the blades whenever the blades carried in the dispenser haveall been taken out, used and disposed of.

In view of the fact that the invention has particular use in connectionwith the dispensing of physicians depressor blades, the invention isdescribed and illustrated herein in connection with such an embodiment.

In the drawing accompanying this description and illus trating theinvention as used for dispensing depressor blades:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the device viewed from the front asarranged to be carried in the pocket of a physicians garment;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional elevation of the device viewed from the side;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the device, partly in section, taken on theline 3-3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional elevational view of the device taken from theside, which view shows another embodiment of the device.

3-,l,53'8 Patented Nov. 5, 1963 Referring to the drawings, it will beseen that the principal element comprises a tubular casing 10 havingspaced parallel, vertically-extending front and rear walls 11 and 12 andside Walls 13 and 14. The casing It} may be made of rustproof metal orother conventional material such as a hard plastic. The bottom" of thecasing is permanently closed by means of end plate 15 secured tothelower ends of the casing walls by welding, cementing, or any othersuitable manner.

The length of the rear wall 12 and the side walls 13 and 14, as shown inFIGURE 2, is slightly in excess of the length of the depressor so thatwhen a pack 16 of said depressors is placed in the casing, and issupported by the lower closure element 15, the tops of the depressorsare positioned slightly below the top edge of said walls. The front wall11 is shorter than the depressors so as to expose the upper end of thepack 16.

in order to support the casing on the person of the physician, there isprovided a clip 17 of conventional design secured to the front wall 11of the casing so that the casing with its contents can be placed withina pocket of the physicians garment and securely retained in the pocketby clasping the edge of the pocket under the spring clip 17 in the usualmanner.

The top or upper end of the casing Ill is made with a cap or closure inthe form of a top plate 118, the underside of which is level 'with thetop edges of the walls 12, 13 and 14 of the casing. The front edge 19 ofsaid cap or top plate 18 is set back from the inside face of the troutwall (extended) a sufiicient distance to permit the outer blade 20 ofthe pack 16 to slide upwardly freely past the edge 19 of the closureelement 18, but less than the thickness of two blades.

In order to maintain the outer or front blade of the pack in properdispensing position as shown in FIGURE 2, whether it 'be the first orthe last remaining blade in the pack 16, there is provided a suitableplate spring 21 behind the pack 16. Said spring 21 is slightly narrowerand slightly shorter than the blade and is permanently secured to theinterior face of the rear wall ll of the casing, for example, by meansof a rivet 22. The spring 21 is made of a highly flexible material, forexample, a suitable metal or plastic, and is preferably proportioned sothat its upper end will press firmly against the central portion of thepack 16 regardless of the number of blades remaining in the pack. Theupper end of the spring 21 is desirably curved as shown to facilitateinsertion of a new pack of blades. The exposed upper end of the outerblade is of sufiicient length to provide. space for the doctors fingerto engage it frictionally and then slide it upwardly out of the casing.

Although the top closure element or plate 18 may be permanently unitedto the upper ends of the walls 12, 13 and 1d of the casing, it is ofadvantage to be able to insert a fresh supply of blades quickly andconveniently when the supply in the casing has been exhausted. To thisend, the top plate 13 may be movable so as to permit all of the bladescomprising a pack, for example six blades, to be inserted at one timeinstead of singly. One way of accomplishing this result is to providethe plate 18 with a rear depending hinge arm 23, the lower end of whichhas a pair of spaced lugs 24 connected by a hinge pin 25 extendingthrough a pair of similar spaced cooperating lugs 26 projectingrearwardly from the rear wall 12 of the casing.

In order to hold the cap piece 18 securely in place so as to preventimproper upward movement of the pack of blades, the plate 18 is madewith depending side flanges 27 on the lower end of each of which thereis an inwardly projecting protrusion 28 engaging an aperture 29 in eachor both of the side walls 13 and 14. It will be understood that thematerial from which the top cap closure anoaees 18 is made issufliciently flexible to enable the depending parts 27 of the cap tospring out slightly in order to perm-it the cap plate 13 to be swungback on its hinge pin 25.

In order that the blades may be easily dispensed by the device, a meansmay be provided as shown in FIG URE 4, for causing'the forward-mostblades, such as the blades and 3b, to be maintained in a somewhatstaggered relationship to the remainder of the pack 16. This may beaccomplished by providing a platform 31 disposed at the lower forwardedge of the interior of the container.

The platform 31 as shown is of trapezoidal cross-section and is providedwith an upper ledge 32 and an inwardly facing inclined surface 33 alongwhich the lower edges of the blades ride as they are moved upwardly tothe ledge 32. The platform 31 may be formed as an integral part of thecasing 11 or lower closure element 15, or may be formed of a separatepiece of material and suitably fastened in place. Also, the inclinedsurface 33 may be fiat or curved. I

In the particular embodiment shown, order to insure that the outer blade2% will he staggered with respect to the remainder of the blades, thewidth of the ledge 32 is made equal to or less than one of the blades ofthe pack 16. The height of the platform 31 is rnade greater than thedistance between the top of the pack 16 and the lower surface of the topplate 18. i I It can be seen, therefore, from FIGURE 4 that when thedevice is constructed in accordance with the above description, the topedge or" the outer blade 20' extends upwardly a short distance past thelower surface of the horizontal top plate 18. Hence, when the outerblade is pushed inwardly (i.e., toward the left in B6 RE 4), as when itis desired to grasp and withdraw the blade, the upper edge of the blade26 will not be moved into the interior of the casing 11, but willcontact the .front edge 19 of the top plate 118, thus facilitating itsremoval.

The embodiment disclosed herein may be changed or modified withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

Various features now believed to benew and patentable are set forth inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a portable device for dispensin disposable blades ofform-maintaining sheet material, one at a time, the

' combination of a'tubular casing receiving and supporting a pack ofsuch blades having substantially the same length and cross-sectionaldimensions, said casing having a top end provided with a closure forlimiting upward longitudinal movement of the said pack of blades andhaving at said top end a discharge opening for permitting the outwardlongitudinal movement of only a single blade on the outside of the saidpack, the opposite end of said casing being provided with a bottomclosure for preventing all of the blades of said pack from escaping'outof the bottom of said casing, a platform disposed within said casingadjacent said bottom closure, a portion of said platform beingvertically aligned with said discharge opening and including an inwardlyfacing inclined surface, spring means tending to move said pack ofblades transversely toward said inclined surface of said platform so asto position the upper endof said outside blade of the pack in registerwith the said discharge opening and so as to move the said outer bladeinto said discharge opening wherein the upper edge of the blade extendsbeyond the lower surface of said top end closure so as to cause theoutside blade to be backed by the top end closure when being removedfrom the casing, and means carried by said casing for attaching thedevice to the clothing of the person so as to hold said device insubstantially upright position.

2. In a portable device for dispensing disposable blades ofform-maintaining sheet material, one at a time, the combination of atubular casing receiving and supporting a pack of such blades havingsubstantially the same length and cross-sectional dimensions, saidcasing having a top end provided with a closure for limiting upwardlongitudinal movement of the said pack of blades and having at said topend a discharge opening for permitting the outward longitudinal movementof only a single blade on the outside of the said pack, the opposite endof said casing being provided with a bottom closure for preventing allof said blades from escaping out of the bottom of said casing, aplatform disposed within said casing adjacent said bottom closure, saidplatform including a ledge disposed below said discharge opening and aninwardly facing inclined surface extending from said ledge to saidbottom closure, said ledge being raised from the bottom closure atdistance greater than the distance from the top of the pack to the lowersurface of the top end closure, said ledge having a width which is lessthan about the width of one blade, spring means tending to move the packtransversely toward said inclined surfiace of said platform so as toposition the upper end of said outside blade of the pack in registerwith the said discharge open,

ing and so as to move said outer blade into said discharge openingwherein the upper edge of the blade extends beyond the lower surface ofsaid top end closure so as to cause the outside blade to be backed bythe top end closure when being removed from the casing, the uppermostportion of the wall of said casing adjacent the outside face of theouter blade of the pack being removed to permit access to the upperportion of the said oute. face of the outer blade by a finger of theuser, and means carried by said casing for attaching the device to theclothing of the person so as to hold said device in sub stantiallyupright position. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 92,986Metzgel July 27, 1869 461,702 ElSOn Oct. 20, 1891 798,261 Brown Aug. 29,1905 806,506 Sherwood Dec. 5, 1905 912,110 Gill Feb. 9, 1909 912,804Brush Feb. 16, 1909 1,040,051 Swihart Oct. 1, 1912 1,062,174 Long May20, 1913 1,155,791 Cabell O'ct. 5, 1915 1,390,979 Braunsdorf Sept. 20,1921 2,283,599 Dickinson May 19, 1942 2,492,480 Johnson Dec. 27, 1949'2,564,518 Bedinger Aug. 14, 1951 2,981,408 Gamble Apr. 25, 1961 FOREIGNPATENTS 975,852 France Oct. 17, 1950

2. IN A PORTABLE DEVICE FOR DISPENSING DISPOSABLE BLADES OFFORM-MAINTAINING SHEET MATERIAL, ONE AT A TIME, THE COMBINATION OF ATUBULAR CASING RECEIVING AND SUPPORTING A PACK OF SUCH BLADES HAVINGSUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME LENGTH AND CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS, SAIDCASING HAVING A TOP END PROVIDED WITH A CLOSURE FOR LIMITING UPWARDLONGITUDINAL MOVEMENT OF THE SAID PACK OF BLADES AND HAVING AT SAID TOPEND A DISCHARGE OPENING FOR PERMITTING THE OUTWARD LONGITUDINAL MOVEMENTOF ONLY A SINGLE BLADE ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE SAID PACK, THE OPPOSITE ENDOF SAID CASING BEING PROVIDED WITH A BOTTOM CLOSURE FOR PREVENTING ALLOF SAID BLADES FROM ESCAPING OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF SAID CASING, APLATFORM DISPOSED WITHIN SAID CASING ADJACENT SAID BOTTOM CLOSURE, SAIDPLATFORM INCLUDING A LEDGE DISPOSED BELOW SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND ANINWARDLY FACING INCLINED SURFACE EXTENDING FROM SAID LEDGE TO SAIDBOTTOM CLOSURE, SAID LEDGE BEING RAISED FROM THE BOTTOM CLOSURE ADISTANCE GREATER THAN THE DISTANCE FROM THE TOP OF THE PACK TO THE LOWERSURFACE OF THE TOP END CLOSURE, SAID LEDGE HAVING A WIDTH WHICH IS LESSTHAN ABOUT THE WIDTH OF ONE BLADE, SPRING MEANS TENDING TO MOVE THE PACKTRANSVERSELY TOWARD SAID INCLINED SURFACE OF SAID PLATFORM SO AS TOPOSITION THE UPPER END OF SAID OUTSIDE BLADE OF THE PACK IN REGISTERWITH THE SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND SO AS TO MOVE SAID OUTER BLADE INTOSAID DISCHARGE